‘Will’ Young Shakespeare Drama Off To Low Ratings Start In TNT Premiere

Not many viewers tuned in for the debut of TNT’s latest drama series, Will, which chronicles the young years of William Shakespeare to a rock music soundtrack. The 9 PM premiere drew 633,000 total viewers and a 0.16 adults 18-49 rating in Live + same day. A second original episode at 10 PM slipped to 477,000 viewers and a 0.09 demo rating.

This is believed to be the lowest-rated TNT drama series premiere ever in Live+same day, below the low mark set last summer by the debut of Good Behavior (813,000 viewers, 0.3 in 18-49) It was also below the recent debut of dramedy Claws (1.1 million, 0.45 in 18-49.)

Good Behavior did OK in delayed viewing and developed a following that earned it a second-season renewal. We will have to wait and see what kind of bump Will gets in DVR and multi-platform viewing but its low Live+same day start will be hard to overcome.

Will, which was once set up at HBO and then had a straight-to-series order at the now-defunct Pivot, stars newcomer Laurie Davidson as William Shakespeare and chronicles his wild 20s in the punk-rock theater scene of 16th century London. The period drama was created by Craig Pearce.